Enrollment Form

Enrollment Form

Enrollment

Since the year 2000…High Trails might just be the longest running outdoor education program in the San Bernardino mountains of Southern California. A sincere THANK YOU to all of our schools, teachers, administrators, parents, students, and supporters. This will mark our 26th year of helping students experience nature in the mountains of Southern California.

How Open Enrollment Works

Open Enrollment runs during the month of April, with date assignments and contracts going out at the beginning of May.

When you submit your Enrollment form during this window does not matter; we will take all the requests and begin putting together the schedule once this Open Enrollment window ends. See below for more details about Enrollment Preference. Once this window closes and contracts are returned, openings are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Notes for this next School Year

Tuition prices have gone up slightly to reflect the increase in the CPI over the past year. This helps us cover the cost of increasing food, staff, etc., as the CPI goes up.
This coming year, every week is either marked as a 4-Day Program Week or a 3&5-Day Program Week. By default 4-Day Program Weeks are a Tuesday-Friday program, unless you specify in the Notes section you’d prefer a Monday-Thursday program. On the 3&5-Day Program Weeks, there is the option of a Monday-Wednesday program, Wednesday-Friday program, or a Monday-Friday program.
If you’re looking for a budget-friendly option, look for the weeks with 3-day programs! We have added more of these weeks this year and have at least one week a month with 3&5-Day Programs. This allows us to put two 3-Day programs in one week, lowering the cost for everyone that week! And gives our staff a very reliable schedule they know from the start of the school year.
High Trails will only operate out of one site for the 2024-25 School Year: Camp Edwards. We have operated here since 2007; it’s a great little site with cabins close together, nestled in the woods. Hikes to Jenks Lake and beautiful overlooks abound! An important note: there are no bathrooms attached to cabins. There are centrally located bathhouses the students will use with their Cabin and Field Groups.
We know the number of students attending may change between when you Enroll and when you actually arrive at High Trails; this is why we have a clause in our contract that allows you to adjust your numbers to 90% of what you originally enrolled. However, we have seen bigger drops in student numbers attending than contracted recently, leaving big gaps in our schedule where we still have financial obligations – site, food, staff etc. Therefore, if the number of students attending drops more than 90%, the traditional scholarship of 1 for every 25 students attending will not be offered.

Enrollment Preferences for Schools

As we will only be operating out of one site this coming school year, unfortunately, we will not be able to accommodate every school. Therefore, please review the following to understand how we give preference:

We are still asking schools to give us their top choices of dates, but along with this, we are going to give more preference to schools as we work the schedule. Preference goes to 1) longevity of your relationship with us; the longer you’ve been attending High Trails, the more we will weigh your enrollment form, 2) schools that pay their invoices on time and fill out their program and student forms on time, and 3) join us as respectful and constructive partners as we all work together to give your students a great outdoor experience.

Enrollment Form

Enrollment is closed for the 2024/25 school year. If you are interested in being added to the waitlist, please email us at hello@dirtyclassroom.com .

Pricing Details

What you see is the basic cost for program at High Trails, which includes food, lodging, and instruction for students. As noted on the Program Form, there are options that your school can choose, based on your specific needs. T-Shirts cost $10 per student, Last Day Hot Lunch costs $7 per student, and Last Day Sack Lunch costs $5 per student. If you would like us to provide Infirmary Supervision, this costs $10 per student.

We always provide two medics that take care of illnesses, medications, etc. With the basic cost, schools provide short-term supervision for students whocan’t take part in program due to illness or discipline during the daytime hours (8am-5pm), so our medic is still ready to respond to health calls. If you would like High Trails staff to cover this daytime period of supervision, is it an additional $10/student. Included in the basic cost for program, High Trails will have staff on call to cover any Infirmary Supervision needed in the evening til the morning (5pm-8am). Our medical team consists of WFRs (Wilderness First Responders or EMTs (Emergency Medical Technicians), and an RN or LVN (Registered Nurse or Licensed Vocational Nurse). If you have questions about these, please check out the Program Form or email us for more details.

You Should Know…

Last year, we were able to give 95% of our schools one of their top 3 choices; though this isn’t a promise for the future it is a good indication that we do our best to make our schools happy, both in scheduling and in their experience up here in the mountains.
It is possible, especially if you choose dates in a popular time frame (March, April and May), that none of the dates you request will be available. If this happens, we will contact you with other options.
We structure our prices based on the time of year and traditional demand. Higher demand weeks have higher prices. This lets us have a full schedule and run program for the entire school year, which in turn allows us to hire quality staff.
If you are a new school considering High Trails, sign up early during Open Enrollment and please tell us what you’re looking for in an outdoor education provider. Unless we have an existing relationship with you or your school district, we may request a deposit before scheduling your school.
Every year we have schools that sign up for dates and then realize, once we have them scheduled, that the dates won’t work. To prevent this, please talk with all of your teachers and check your school calendar for Holidays, Test Dates, and other conflicts before submitting this form
We know the number of students attending may change between when you Enroll and when you actually arrive at High Trails. Contractually, if that number changes by more than 10%, we reserve the right to ask you to pay at least the 90% contracted amount. If you are unsure of how many students to put on this form, shoot us an email, and let’s talk about it!

High Trails communicates primarily via email. – hello@dirtyclassroom.com. Please notify us if you would prefer a different method of communication.

The Schools section of our website has complete information for visiting schools and teachers. If this is your first year at High Trails or if you have all new teachers coming to program, we would be happy to come down to your school and give a presentation to your parents. Our “Welcome to High Trails” letter will be emailed out to each school in early September…this will have complete details to help you prepare for your program visit.

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Southern California has just finished its driest year on record. The National Weather service reported that Los Angeles received only 3.49 inches of rainfall between January 1 and December 18, 2013, the lowest amount since...

Bowdrill Basics - Becca Babel

It was Thursday afternoon and the last full day of training as I wandered around the forest looking for a strong, curved branch to use as a bow for my bowdrill. My eyes filled with...

Live The Life You Love - Hillary Cantu

I feel very privileged to have grown up in Southern California, I was raised at the beach and spent most of my years growing up in the ocean. I learned very young about the beauty...

Art and the Environment: Rebecca Babel The relationship between art and nature may not be apparent to everyone, but art and the environment have been linked together as far back as the days of Plato and Aristotle when aesthetics was connected... What is your “Dawn Wall”? Barb Bemis On January 14, 2015, history was made...in the rock climbing world at least. Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson succeeded in free climbing the Dawn Wall on El Cap, Yosemite National Park. 19 days. 32 pitches of... Non-flowering Plant Reproduction: Conifers – Ryne Tobar Of the classes I get to teach at High Trails, my favorite is Plant Detectives. Plants are incredible organisms. While they might be immobile, plants are able to propagate, or reproduce, far beyond their immediate vicinity. When... Seed Dispersal of the Black Oak - Davíd Valencia Did you know that one of the largest populations of all Black Oak trees in southern California is in the San Bernardino National Forest? [1. Tyler, Claudia M., et al. “Demography and Recruitment Limitations of... Don’t Rain on My Parade! Shannon Diaz Have you ever had to teach students while outside in the rain or snow ? Here at High Trails, we hike and teach our students in three different seasons with all sorts of weather. Whether we... Trail Games #1- Kyle O'Dea So what do you do while hiking with a large group of students through the forest? Play games of course! Here at High Trails Outdoor Science School we have an arsenal of games we... Camouflage! - Hope Batcheller “Camouflage!” I yell, and start counting to twenty. I hear the rustling of students scattering in every direction, rushing to find good hiding places behind thick-trunked trees or downed logs. It is the middle of our... Life 101: 5 Lessons I’ve Learned Since Coming to High Trails - Emily Trostel There are shared qualities that drive us to be High Trails’ instructors. Mostly, we all share a love of the outdoors. We tend to discover early on that working in an office, teaching in a... Your Name? I Don't Have A Clue - Haley Cushing Instructor: “Ok, who can tell me an example of a renewable resource?” Unnamed Student Raises Hand. Your mind goes blank. You look down at your attendance sheet. Back at the student. Back at the attendance sheet.... Colette's Top 5 High Trails Blog Posts - Colette Boylan Some of us are past camp counselors. Some of us are artists. Some of us are biologists, and some of are simply lovers of nature. Whatever type of person our instructors may have been before... Birds Battle to be heard over Noise Pollution - Gabriela Antonova To many, pollution is something dark and disgusting that poisons clean air or pristine rivers, like Dr. Seuss’s Smogulous Smog or Gluppity-Glup. However, pollution can be invisible, sly, and can even inhibit communication. We’re talking... Simple Tips for Green Living - Colette Boylan Throughout the past few years, the prominence in which environmentalism has taken within our daily lives cannot be easily disputed. Reusable materials, such as grocery bags and coffee mugs, run abundant and recycling cans stand... Whales in the Mountains? Chris Iurio What could possibly be going on here? Adventure Course at High Trails, that's what. During a high climbing, arrow shooting, wander about the woods day, most students are lucky enough to get lost in a... Keeping It Fresh In Year Three - Nasser Rihan It is that time of year again. The leaves are falling from the oak trees, the wind is becoming cooler and ever more crisp, and for me that means one thing: another year at High... One Shift Two Shift Redshift Blueshift - David Nakic Here's a question: how can you use 3 cars to explain why stars are different colors? This is our constellation Orion. The chart highlights which stars are red, white, or blue in... Waste Not! Composting Basics - Bryce Bicksler At the end of my Environmental Awareness class, I pose the question ”What will you do back home to do your part in conservation?” Now these students are not wrong when they say they’ll turn... Over the Moon...Cycle - Suzanne Bosman “The common theme of calendar making is the desire to organize units of time to satisfy the needs and preoccupations of society. In addition to serving practical purposes, the process of organization provides a sense,...

Popular Parent Links

Special Concerns: Information and form for special situations. Health Consent Form: required for every student attending High Trails. Medication Form: required if a student is bringing medication to High Trails. Discipline Form and Packing List: general information to prepare for your trip. Forms Video: check this out for a visual explanation of our forms. Printable Parent's Guide: used in lieu of the online Parent's Guide. Menu: a weekly list of the food up here.

Trail Games #1- Kyle O'Dea So what do you do while hiking with a large group of students through the forest? Play games of course! Here at High Trails Outdoor Science School we have an arsenal of games we... Guided Questioning: Turning Wah into Wow - Mark Kerstens Ever have a cool fact, idea, or concept that comes up as you hike that you want to share with the students? These teachable moments happen all the time, and are a great way to... Props: Can’t live with them, can’t live without them… Shane Hyre If you talk to anyone in the outdoor education business – talk about props. Talk about the rubber chickens, the stuffed animals, the rope, the spots, the foam thingies… props have been the underestimated “magic... Don’t Rain on My Parade! Shannon Diaz Have you ever had to teach students while outside in the rain or snow ? Here at High Trails, we hike and teach our students in three different seasons with all sorts of weather. Whether we... Morphology Makes You a Science Wizard - Jenna Ikwe Mennen “Who knows one characteristic of a mammal?” says every High Trails instructor, once a week. “Warm-blooded!” answers an eager student, remembering to raise their hand only after already blurting out the words. Now, how do we... Ode to Button-Pushers - Alex Rice Do you know the student who throws a stick when their instructor isn’t looking? The one who goes past the boundary their teacher very explicitly creates or breaks the rule that was thoroughly reviewed three... Toothpaste: Show Don't Tell - Kelsey Wentling Once inside the cabin, everyone shivers off their jackets and eagerly starts buzzing around the warm haven: home for the next three or four nights. Soon after, buzzing turns to chatting and not far off chatting... Why We Lorax - Penelope Burgess “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it’s not.” –Dr. Seuss What is The Lorax? 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